A BOUTIQUE accommodation house at North Cairns is undergoing a $3 million expansion and refurbishment.
The new-look Cairns Queenslander Apartments and Restaurant in Digger St are due to open in mid May.

Company director Mike Spaulding said it was a vote of confidence in the tourism industry and the region."I’m putting my money where my mouth is," he said.

"There aren’t many accommodation properties or tourism businesses in the Cairns city area taking the initiative to redevelop in our current economic climate."We are long-time businesspeople in Cairns and have seen Cairns go through its ups and downs but we are very optimistic about the future."Mr Spaulding said the multi-million dollar redevelopment was what the city needed.

"It is certainly of significant benefit to the local building industry by creating work for 24 local tradesmen employed pre-Christmas and continuing over the next six months," he said.Mr Spaulding said an extra floor had been added to the building for an extra 22 rooms as well as a new roof."There are also numerous other local financial spin-offs that will certainly help the Cairns economy due to the vast majority of building supplies, furniture and fittings being sourced and purchased locally," he said.

Mr Spaulding, who is undertaking the building contract himself, has employed as many tradesmen as he could. "This has been a God-send to many of them," he said.Mr Spaulding said the upgrade was taking place with no impact on existing guests, services and facilities.

"When completed we will be adding more staff, probably four to six full-time staff on top of the 30 to 40 we already employ," he said."The project has proceeded on time without Cairns Regional Council assistance to waive headworks costs."Mr Spaulding said the project met all of the council’s infrastructure discount requirements except the deadline.

"The cut-off date was arbitrary. I am hoping the council will consider our application again," he said. "With council announcing not all 2012 building incentive allocated funds were utilised we will definitely be reapplying for their support in the waiving of these considerable costs."